Chapter 18 The world doesn’t want kind people…

Chapter 18 The world doesn’t want kind people…
Vivian 
I made sure the water was hot but not too hot. Just enough to chase all the cold from my body. As the water coursed through my body, I felt so emotional and started to cry. I flashed back into my life before the breakup. I was all good and living well until I lost it all. 
If that hadn’t happened, why would I ever be going for silly interviews that are only out to ridicule someone? 
I was so mad at myself and I cried so hard till my eyes got tired. I finally got out of the shower and cleaned up. I made sure to cover up well to keep the cold out. 
I went into the living room and Brad had hot coffee waiting for me. I sat there on the couch, sipping it gently while thinking about my life.
“What happened?” Brad finally broke the silence but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be that vulnerable with him.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to tell me. I’ll be in my room.” He said and then stood to leave, which made me feel so guilty.
Brad has been nothing but good to me ever since he moved in. I’ve always given him attitude and make it obvious that I don’t want him in my space, but he never keeps trying to be friends. It would be unfair to push him away now that he has proven to be a real one.
“Wait!” I quickly called back and he stopped too.
“Please don’t go,” I said and he returned to his seat. 
I expected him to repeat the question, I wanted him to but he didn’t. He just glued his eyes to the tv and watched in silence. It wasn’t even his show and it was obvious he wasn’t enjoying it but since I asked him to stay with me, he did without question. 
“Maybe it’s time to make the move now,” a voice rang in my head and I finally cleared my throat. 
“Still want to know what happened?” I asked while he looked at me and looked away. 
“It’s okay if you’re not comfortable with sharing with me.” He replied and I sighed. 
“Do you think I’m difficult?” I asked and he looked at me again. This time he didn’t look away and I was the one who finally did.
“I don’t think you are. You pretend to be but I can see beneath all that tough exterior who you really are. You’re a sweet person with a kind soul, and I’m not saying that to make you feel good. I mean it.” He let out and I smiled. 
“I know right, but I’m not pretending. I’m not a sweet person, atleast not anymore. I used to be all that until I was taught a lesson and in a hard way. I made up my mind to put myself first always and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.” I revealed. 
“You’re not doing a very good job in my opinion then because the Vivian that I know is a kind person. Why do you think I always get myself in your business? It’s because you’re so sweet and everyone likes to be around people like that. My day automatically gets better once we have our usual rapport before I leave for work.” He chimed in and that made me blush.
“My ex boyfriend used to say that too. He would always call me in the morning just so we could talk. He’d say talking to me makes his day so good. I believed that for years until he suddenly told me it was all a lie.” I let out and Brad happened to pay more attention to me.
“He said I was too in love with him and abandoned my life and future in the process. That’s not the kind of woman he wants, he wants one who is ambitious and has a life outside her love relationship. You know I thought it was a joke until his new woman walked in and kissed him. It turned out he had been cheating on me all this while but I never suspected a thing. I was too in love and I trusted him so much. I never thought he could cheat on me. As a matter of fact, we’ve been together over three years and I thought he was finally going to propose. He left me without a second though for another woman.”
“And yeah, I know people break up and we are not the first but this is someone that I made a lot of sacrifices for during our tears together. I gave my savings to him to start his law firm, I got him his first case which made him popular and yeah, I changed my lifestyle completely just to satisfy him because he has a certain type of women he likes. He never thought I was ambitious then. He got all comfortable and that was when he finally realized he wanted a woman with more focus.” I let out and I just had to pause because my voice was shaking and I didn’t want to cry.
I already made up my mind never to cry over Nathan ever again, and I’m not about to go back on my words now. 
“Maybe it would have been better if he only broke up with me and didn’t just jump on another woman immediately. Or maybe if I never found out he was cheating on me. I would have still been heart broken but not so much. But that day, I saw it with my own eyes as he kissed another woman just minutes after breaking up with me. That broke me in a thousand and one ways. I questioned everything about me. My self esteem was in a ditch and I just wallowed in misery.” 
“You know I lost my job the next day, and it was all because of the heartbreak. I couldn’t separate it from work and I made a silly mistake at work. They decided to make a scapegoat out of me and that was how I got myself into a suspension. Six months without pay and I had bills staring at me, ready to consume me. We were supposed to move in together that week so I didn’t bother about the house rent. Well, he left and it became my greatest concern.”
“So when I saw I got tired of being sweet, I have my reasons. Because I’ve been sweet all my life only for it to be taken for granted. And guess who is on suspension and jumping on job interviews while he's enjoying the life she helped built with another woman.” I let out, took a brief pause to clear my throat before I continued again. 
Brad didn’t say a word. He just sat there and listened with rapt attention, and I’m glad he did. I don’t think I would have poured out so much if he was interrupting. And the more I was letting out, the lighter and better I felt.
“You know, that changed so many things in me. I finally realized that the world doesn’t value kind people. The world needs unkind people…”